Betrayal/Copenhagen/Oleanna, Theatre Royal, Bath, 14th October to 12th December
Danny Moar’s Theatre Royal is the first regional theatre to announce a full main house limited capacity season in the Covid era. Three modern masters, Harold Pinter, Michael Frayn and David Mamet, are represented by three plays of argumentative encounters—between adulterous literati in Betrayal, Nobel Prize-winning physicists in Copenhagen, and teacher and pupil in Oleanna. The last is fuelled by an allegation of sexual harassment that can (and does) elicit shout-outs in the stalls and fistfights on the streets—but not in Bath, surely?
This is Going to Hurt, Apollo Theatre, London, 22nd October to 8th November
Adam Kay’s one-man show returns to the stage as a West End curtain raiser. As it’s based on his bestselling memoir about working as a junior doctor, the opening night will be a benefit for NHS staff. Theatre owners Nimax are the smallest of the four West End theatre-owning companies, so their incurred costs are lowest. Going forward, all depends on the government backing an insurance scheme for business interruption that includes Covid risk.
Death of England: Delroy, National Theatre, London, 21st October to 28th November
Yet another solo show by Clint Dyer and Roy Williams as the supine National Theatre stirs itself at last. This is a reworking of a previous anti-racist monologue featuring an angered, mouthy Rafe Spall. The same story of cultural dislocation is centred on a black friend of that protagonist, here played by the marvellous Giles Terera who starred as US founding father Aaron Burr in the original London production of Hamilton.
Danny Moar’s Theatre Royal is the first regional theatre to announce a full main house limited capacity season in the Covid era. Three modern masters, Harold Pinter, Michael Frayn and David Mamet, are represented by three plays of argumentative encounters—between adulterous literati in Betrayal, Nobel Prize-winning physicists in Copenhagen, and teacher and pupil in Oleanna. The last is fuelled by an allegation of sexual harassment that can (and does) elicit shout-outs in the stalls and fistfights on the streets—but not in Bath, surely?
This is Going to Hurt, Apollo Theatre, London, 22nd October to 8th November
Adam Kay’s one-man show returns to the stage as a West End curtain raiser. As it’s based on his bestselling memoir about working as a junior doctor, the opening night will be a benefit for NHS staff. Theatre owners Nimax are the smallest of the four West End theatre-owning companies, so their incurred costs are lowest. Going forward, all depends on the government backing an insurance scheme for business interruption that includes Covid risk.
Death of England: Delroy, National Theatre, London, 21st October to 28th November
Yet another solo show by Clint Dyer and Roy Williams as the supine National Theatre stirs itself at last. This is a reworking of a previous anti-racist monologue featuring an angered, mouthy Rafe Spall. The same story of cultural dislocation is centred on a black friend of that protagonist, here played by the marvellous Giles Terera who starred as US founding father Aaron Burr in the original London production of Hamilton.
